Mezcal’s history extends to the Mesoamerican period where it held the privileged position as an offering during rituals and for the gods. Its production was left to sacred hands who followed a careful and solemn process. For us, this process remains sacred and we follow every step in the same respect to create more than just a beverage, but an experience that connects us to our deepest roots. Grulani Mezcal is distilled with the same traditional, artisanal authenticity, transmitting the beverage with the spirit of our land and its ancestral history. Our team cuts the wood, collects the volcanic rocks, lights the fire, roasts the maguey, crushes the agaves with a horse-pulled stone mill, allows it to ferment, and then proceeds to distillation, all under the eye of master mezcalero Leo Hernández.

A large variety of wild agaves thrive in our region

Our region and its diverse ecosystem brings together the ideal conditions for a wide variety of agaves to thrive naturally, organically, and spontaneously, without man’s intervention. The richness of this land allows our master mezcalero, Leo Hernández, to freely experiment and create mezcals that bring together three centuries of knowledge and tradition with the unique characteristics of the air, sky, and land of San Baltazar Guelavila, Oaxaca. We always respect the maturation and regeneration cycles of our magueys and meticulously select only the finest magueys to produce our mezcal.

Cutting the ‘piñas’ for cooking underground

Time, Wisdom, and Nature

Our master mezcalero Leo Hernández has dedicated all of his life to mezcal and is an expert of the distinct varieties that are endemic to our region. He understands the specific period of time required for each species of maguey to reach maturation, and he’s mastered the different techniques of each during the fermentation and distillation processes. Leo Hernández is the heir to five generations of a tradition that covers more than three centuries. With its wealth of magueys, the impressive landscape of San Baltazar Guelavila is Leo’s personal laboratory.

Master mezcalero Leo Hernández

Leo is the heir to more than three centuries of mezcal tradition

Leo Hernández was born in San Baltazar Guelavila, San Dionisio Ocotepec, Oaxaca. He is the fifth generation of master mezcaleros. As a child, Leo began to work in the countryside, cultivating crops and caring for livestock. He took advantage of the long stretches of boredom that accompanies caring for livestock to select the best magueys and load the 40kg Tobalá piñas onto his two horses, every day, little by little. When he was only 15 years old, he began to work with his father, Cosme Hernández, in his mezcal distillery, and at 20 years old, Leo began to distill on his own. Years later, his deep expertise of wild magueys and the manner in which he distills, informed by the four generations of mezcaleros that came before him, has made Leo Hernández one of the most referenced and sought-after mezcaleros in the world.

Drink From Our Roots

Grulani is crafted from pieces of ancestral Mexico and its great cultures, fragments of colonial Mexico and its imposing beauty, and finished and polished in today’s Mexico: modern, sophisticated, and universal. Every drop of our mezcal — our colors, our design, and our bottle — were designed to encompass all of the Mexicos that exist and have existed.

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